Federal election 2019: Labor hopes to reset following disastrous few days, Scott Morrison claims he’s better equipped to lead nation
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has accused Bill Shorten of struggling to deal with election campaign pressure, a fear shared by the Opposition leader’s own colleagues. But Labor hopes to reset after the Easter break, and could initiate a scare campaign.
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Bill Shorten will reset his campaign after the Easter long weekend following two sloppy days in which he struggled to answer questions about Labor’s superannuation and climate change policies.
Scott Morrison accused Mr Shorten of lying to voters after the Opposition Leader claimed he had no plans to change the superannuation system.
For back-to-back days, Mr Shorten also failed to answer a simple question about the cost of his 45 per cent emissions reduction target.
Mr Shorten’s colleagues have remarked privately that he has looked under pressure in his two most recent press conferences, and are hoping the party can reset after the weekend and focus on other issues.
It is understood Labor will look to complement its health policies — which Mr Shorten has made the focus of the first week — with different themes including attacks on the government.
This will include a scare campaign on the spending cuts Labor say will be needed to pay for the Coalition’s tax plan.
Mr Shorten yesterday conceded he “should have picked the words better” when asked about Labor’s superannuation plans, saying he misheard the question from a journalist on Tuesday.
More than one million Australians face higher taxes on their super under Labor’s plans for tighter caps on contributions and bigger contributions to tax from workers on higher incomes.
This would be a $34 billion hit to Aussies over the next decade
“I thought I was being asked about have we had any unannounced changes to superannuation,” Mr Shorten said.
“Obviously we have changes which we outlined three years ago, so I should have picked the words better, no question.
“We have no changes other than what we outlined previously.”
Mr Shorten again fielded questions about Labor’s emissions reduction target of 45 per cent, after he had a fiery exchange with a journalist the previous day when he refused to outline the cost of the policy.
Yesterday, the Labor leader claimed there would be no economic cost, but stopped short of guaranteeing whether detailed costings would be released before the election.
He denied an estimate Labor’s carbon offsets — a key plank of the party’s policy to reach the target — would wipe $472 billion from the economy.
“We will see across the 2020s, as a result of our energy policies and climate policies, GDP growth of about 23 per cent,” Mr Shorten said.
Mr Morrison yesterday said his rival had never faced the level of pressure and scrutiny he’s now under — not even during the 2016 election campaign.
The prime minister, who labelled Mr Shorten the front runner, said he was better equipped to handle the pressure of the top office because his preparation as immigration minister and then treasurer taught him how to keep a “clear head” under difficult circumstances.
“For years Bill Shorten has been sort of skating below the radar and hasn’t been put under a lot of pressure in terms of his own policies and at the slightest nudge things have unravelled,” Mr Morrison said.
“It hasn’t just been on superannuation I mean he’s health costings have come under fire, his negative gearing similarly Chris Bowen’s work on the taxes policy has come under a lot of pressure and cracks are opening up.”
“I thought the response on super was just bizarre and to double down.
“He thought he’d get away with it because that’s what he used to do, he thought he could just say this and get away with it. It’s show and tell time Bill it’s the election.”
Originally published as Federal election 2019: Labor hopes to reset following disastrous few days, Scott Morrison claims he’s better equipped to lead nation
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